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A LECTURE 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



PHRENOLOGY NOT OPPOSED TO THE PRINCIPLES 

OF RELIGION; NOR THE PRECEPTS OF 

CHRISTIANITY. 



J 
BY WILLIAM INGALLS, M. D. 

FELLOW OF THE MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND AND NEW HAMPSHIRE 
MEDICAL SOCIETIES : FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY, SUR- 
GERY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN BROWN UNIVERSITY. 



True Religion and true Philosophy must ultimately arrive at the same principle." 

[S. S. Smith. 







BOS TON: 

DUTTON AND WENTWORTH, PRINTERS 
1839. 




X 



9 



>w 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 

By William Ingalls, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



PREFACE 



It was my intention to deliver the following lecture last Autumn at 
the Lyceum in Chelsea ; but a demonstration of the mental organs on 
the cast was substituted, — as being better calculated to engage the 
attention of a mixed audience. In the selection of the subject, I was 
influenced by the suggestion of an eminent physician, that phrenology 
was opposed to religion. With regard to myself, the science has pro- 
duced no change in my religious sentiments. Every metaphysical 
disquisition, however, on the science of the mind, or the nature of the 
soul, is apt to lead to materialism or pantheism — doctrines repugnant 
to Christianity. " It is human to err ;" hence errors will continue to 
interrupt the progress of truth, until the period, when " true religion 
and true philosophy" will have " arrived at the same principle. 1 ' 

Between the properties of certain vegetables, and the lowest animals 
in the scale of beings, there is scarcely any difference to be discerned ; 
nor between the faculties of individuals of the highest class of animals, 
and those of the lowest of human kind. 

Tonicity and contractility are vital properties, which in certain parts 
of living organized bodies, — independently of nervous influence, — 
execute movements more or less remarkable, whenever they are 
brought into action by the application of an exciting cause. These 
movements, " which characterize life, and require no organ," are found 
in the most simple organized bodies, as in the polypus, and in the mus- 
cular fibre of the most complicated in the animal series. 

Tonicity is the primary and essential quality of vitality ; without it 
all organized bodies would cease to live. When it is redundant or 
deficient, the power of muscular contractility is proportionably aug- 
mented or diminished. Its influence, however, is not limited to the 
muscular fibre ; — it extends to every organic solid. 

That tonicity and contractility exist, also, in certain vegetables, is 



exemplified in the sensitive plant : when green, it is vigorous ; — the 
slightest touch will cause a rapid contraction of rows of leaves ; then 
the branchlets ; and eventually the branch ; but when sallow, it is fee- 
ble, and requires some degree of roughness to cause a few leaves to 
contract. Hence the above — which are the only vital properties be- 
longing to the zoophite — reside in great activity in the sensitive plant. 

When to the qualities essential to the production of muscular motion 
nervous influence be added, a new train of phenomena appears. In 
beings possessing a nervous system in its most simple form, there com- 
mences between it and the muscular a reciprocal action ; and as we 
advance from the more simple to the more complicated living organ- 
ized bodies, the ascendency of the nervous over the muscular power 
becomes more and more perceptible, until we arrive at the highest de- 
gree in the animal scale : — at each grade the animal acquires a new — 
not a different — accession of powers. In the highest species of the 
mammalia or the quadrumana, there are individuals who evince 
instinctive intelligence closely allied in its character to that which is 
derived from the human understanding. Their faculties are gradually 
and successively unfolded ; their educability, sagacity and power of 
concentration, — within the sphere of their several instincts — bear a 
strong resemblance to the same qualities in man ; but, without the 
sphere of their several instincts, they are incapable of acquiring knowl- 
edge, or receiving instruction. By discipline, indeed, the most fero- 
cious animals may be brought into subjection and obedience, and the 
docile taught to perform feats, which appear to be the result of human 
intelligence ; but without the discipline and instruction of man, they 
would never transcend the natural impulses of their peculiar instincts. 

Beside the propensities, the possession of self-esteem, love of 
approbation, cautiousness and benevolence — sentiments common to 
man and animals — constitutes another point of resemblance between 
intelligence and instinct. 

Concentrativeness is an organ of instinct which plays an important 
part in the animal economy. It is the seat of attention, mem- 
ory and the power of giving efficacy to the functions of the per- 
ceptive and affective organs. Without its agency, the receptive organs 
would be but the passive recipients of sensation ; — they would not res- 
pond to the impressions made upon them by external objects. Of this 
we are conscious, when the attention is so completely absorbed in listen- 
ing to an unusual noise, — though the organs of sight may be anatomi- 



cally and physiologically sound — objects will make so slight an impres- 
sion on those of form and color, as to be scarcely recognized. 

Concentrativeness has, also, the power of concatenating instinctive mo- 
tions. Whenever by the stimulus of hunger or thirst, or the incitement 
of light and darkness, or the impression of any other exciting cause, 
the attention be awakened, this faculty is called into action ; and, under 
its guidance, the animal goes through the routine of its peculiar in- 
stincts. Thus, the monarch of the feathered tribe daily soars aloft, 
and, after making the circuit of his wide serial domain, he descends 
and alights upon some lofty crag on the margin of a lake, and while 
surveying the watery expanse below, he descries a hawk who had 
seized upon his prey, and is bearing it off; indignant he darts down 
from the dizzy height ; at his approach the affrighted marauder lets go 
his booty, which in pursuance of his royal prerogative, the monarch 
claiming as his indefeasible right, secures before it reaches the liquid 
element. All these various and successive movements, which seem to 
be dictated by reason, are the offspring of concentrativeness alone. 

To the interior and spontaneous power of action in animals, in man 
are superadded the reflective faculties, forming a compound, the com- 
ponent parts of which are, in numerous instances, so blended, it is diffi- 
cult to distinguish what are the animal from what are the human. 
Hence the diversity of opinions with regard to animals being endowed 
with reflective faculties. 

On the assumption, there is a plurality of organs, it may not be in- 
applicable to the design of the following lecture to give a few examples 
of the situation of such as have come under my observation. 

Dr. Spurzheim was exceedingly averse to the prevailing opinion, 
there should be a distinct prominence to denote each organ or faculty. 
He taught, for instance, the sincipital region — the seat of the moral 
sentiments — may be developed without discovering any remarkable 
protuberance, and yet the respective faculties which belong to this 
genus, may be of a very high grade. 

Dr. Mayo, who seems not to be a thorough convert to phrenology, as 
taught by Dr. Gall, has advanced an opinion in consonance with the 
above, in his Elements of the Pathology of the human mind : from 
which we shall make the following extract. 

" But the phrenologists appear to have been forced into an hypothe- 
sis by accumulated observation, and being remarkably deficient in the 



V* 



faculty of generalizing, they have thrown their work into a great num- 
ber of detached pigeon-holes, and have separated very arbitrarily into 
small parcels, what more skilful theorists would have collected into 
larger masses. This procedure has laid them open to much ridicule. 
But, as it is opposed to the more dangerous fault of rapid systematizing, 
it in some degree increases the claims of their labors to our attention. 

" It would, I imagine, be very easy to state the views of the physi- 
ologists, in a form, which would appear perfectly reasonable to those 
by whom they are derided on the above grounds. The facial angle of 
Camper has long ago directed our attention to the shape of the head in 
connection with the manifestations of intellect ; and again, the connec- 
tion between our intellectual and moral departments, would dispose us 
to accept with attention, the evidence of their having a common organic 
agent. But, if we think and feel through the instrumentality of the 
brain, we shall probably think and feel agreeably to laws which will 
imply one kind of action in the brain one operation intellectual or 
emotive, another for another ; and it is far from improbable that this 
difference of cerebral action should be connected with a difference in 
the fibres appropriated to each function, or in other words, with a dif- 
ference in the parts of the brain relative to each. On this basis, the 
general principle of a division into organs might be erected without any 
antecedent improbability ; and if the divisions of Gall appear unphilo- 
sophically minute, it would be easy to reduce them into more general 
heads, without interfering with the location assigned to them by their 
discoverer. Viewing them, indeed, in groups according to their juxta- 
position, we shall often find that a generic character prevails, such as 
the experience which we possess of the human mind would lead us to 
expect. Thus benevolence and imitation, (organs which touch each 
other in the phrenological map,) embody the great principle of sympa- 
thy. Again the elation of spirit, the self-congratulation which men ex- 
perience, when the witness in their own breast commends them, is the 
same emotion differently exerted, with that which elevates the success- 
ful competitor for public applause. These organs accordingly are in 
contact. Hope, veneration, wonder and ideality constitute a mass of 
contiguous organs, which might easily be taught under common meta- 
physical principles. It would be easy to soften off the hard distinctness 
with which Gall and Spurzheim have split the cerebral mass. Their 
comparative neglect to do this for themselves, may well be accounted 



for, if their statements are true, by the marvellous individual facts, 
which seem first to have drawn their attention to the subject and kept 
them entangled in their details. 

" With respect to the mistakes of the phrenologists, they may lay 
claim to the same indulgence, which other mistakes meet with. At all 
events, from the professors of medical science they might expect to find 
sympathizing criticism. We lay down the symptoms of disease ; but 
we do not consider ourselves candidly dealt with, if our repeated fail- 
ures in diagnosis lay our science under the imputation of charlatanism. 
And yet it is to be observed, that many of its professors assert the gen- 
eral skill of the faculty in discovering disease, just as confidently as the 
phrenologists assert their skill in the discovery of character." 

There are instances, in which organs may be found in an isolated 
state as well as in groups, as will appear in the sequel. 

On a visit to Philadelphia in company with my son, in the winter of 
1836-37, several opportunities were afforded us of testing the correct- 
ness of the doctrines of phrenology. 

At the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester, by the 
politeness of Dr. Woodward we were admitted into the several rooms. 
In the course of our walks we met with an exemplification of the " ges- 
tures of the faculties," in an individual who — continually expatiating on 
the large landed property he owned, and his personal influence, in the 
town to which he belonged — held his head erect and inclined backward 
in the direction of the organ of self-esteem. A number of the inmates, 
aware of the peculiar character of his hallucination, locked arms with 
him, and while walking up and down the avenue, and enlarging upon 
his possessions and influence, the indication of the faculty was carried 
to the utmost extreme. Not long since, at a literary soiree, the atti- 
tude was displayed by a gentleman in as remarkable a degree, while 
engaged in conversation on a favorite topic. But, in a civilized com- 
munity, occupied by a multiplicity of pursuits, and whose native habits, 
manners, and perhaps dispositions, are modified by intercourse with 
strangers and intercommunication with foreign nations, it is not to be 
expected that the natural bent of the minds of the people could be dis- 
covered by natural language. , 

In one of the apartments, I entered into conversation with a man 
who had in a fit of jealousy committed homicide. He was in height 
more than six feet, and of an athletic frame. He claimed to be the 
Almighty, and justified the act alluded to by the example of Cain. On 



8 

the left side of the head, in the region of amativeness, there was a 
prominence of a conical form, and of considerable size ; on the same side, 
in the region of destructiveness, there was one similar in form and size : 
— there was none on the right side, or in any other part of the cranium. 

At the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford, Dr. Fuller had the good- 
ness to accompany us through all the apartments. Among the numer- 
ous cases that were detailed, the doctor pointed out to us a female who 
had been in the Asylum for many years, and who was continually re- 
peating various receipts for various kinds of cookery. There was a 
conical projection on the left side, just before the base of the zygomatic 
process of the temporal bone, in the place where Dr. Spurzheim sup- 
posed the organ of alimentiveness to be located : there was none to 
be seen on the other side, nor in any other part of the cranium. 

In one of the apartments for males, we saw a person, whose eyes 
protruded from their sockets so far, as to produce deformity ; — to con- 
ceal which he wore spectacles. Dr. Fuller remarked, that he possess- 
ed an extraordinary memory, and was thorough master of history and 
philosophy. 

At the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane in New York — a magni- 
ficent and extensive establishment — Dr. Ogden was so obliging as to 
conduct us through various departments. In one, we saw a female 
maniac in one of her most raving paroxysms ; in another, a female 
who had just recovered from puerperal mania ; in another building, one 
who fancied himself Alexander the Great ; another, who from excessive 
indulgence had become idiotic ; in another apartment, a termagant in a 
violent rage ; and a young handsome lady in neat attire, of the most 
placid countenance ; — so various are the several species of insanity. 

At the Institution for the Blind in New York, by the courtesy of Mr. 
Jones, the superintendent, who is thoroughly conversant with phrenolo- 
gy, both theoretically and practically, opportunity was afforded us of 
seeing the manner in which the establishment is conducted. Among 
the pupils was a lad, about six years of age, who possessed the power of 
calculation, Mr. Jones thought, in a greater degree than Zeba Colbum. I 
proposed a question, which appeared to him of so easy solution, as to 
cause him to smile. Mr. Jones, then, asked him how many months, weeks, 
days, hours, minutes and seconds there were in sixty years ; he gave the 
answer in a very short space of time. I observed his countenance very 
closely ; and by the play of the muscular fibre in the region of the 
organ of constructiveness, a sufficient ground is afforded for the 



supposition, this organ is implicated in extemporaneous computation, — as 
it is requisite, rules should be mentally constructed to conduct the pro- 
cess to a correct issue. 

Mr. Jones drew my attention to a miss, who was wholly destitute of 
the organ of weight and resistance. He observed, she found the way 
from one room to another with difficulty, and when walking she expe- 
rienced the sensation of falling ; or rather, as she expressed herself, of 
the floor rising up against her ; on the other hand, he showed me one 
who had arrived at adult age, in whom the organ was very conspicu- 
ous, who could walk to every part of the city without a guide. 

During my residence in Philadelphia, I was introduced to Dr. Mor- 
ton, the Corresponding Secretary of the Academy of Sciences. The 
Doctor gave me an invitation to visit the museum belonging to the So- 
ciety, in which there was a large collection of preparations appertain- 
ing to Natural History ; — among which were many skeletons of human 
heads, of which he gave me a particular account. One was the head 
of a Dutch officer on the East India station ; in which the organs of 
cembativeness, destructiveness and alimentiveness, were so prominent 
as to arrest my attention at once. He had indulged in the propensities 
of which these organs are indicative to such excess, as to bring him to 
a premature grave. The next was that of the cannibal of Van Die- 
man's Land, who, after enticing away, killing and eating several men, 
was finally caught, and brought to condign punishment. In addition to 
the organs above enumerated, his forehead was low and narrow, and 
the sincipital region much contracted.* In the officer and in the can- 
nibal, the organs of alimentiveness, destructiveness, combativeness and 
secretiveness, formed groups in which one organ was not more promi- 
nent than another, so that the organ of alimentiveness, though " very 
large," would not be readily detected by one not a proficient in practi- 
cal phrenology. In the female at Hartford, the organ of alimentive- 
ness, being " very large," isolated, of a conical form, and the organs 
in juxtaposition, " very small," might be discovered by a very superfi- 
cial examination. Dependent undoubtedly on the different development 
of the affective organs, there was a striking contrast in the habits and 
inclinations of the female, and the anthropophagite : the former was 
partial to the delicacies of civilized life ; the latter betrayed the appe- 
tite and voracity of a carnivorous animal. 

* By the politeness of Pr. Morton we were permitted to take casts of these heads. 



10 

That the mental organs, therefore, may be found in a separate state 
as well as in groups ; and that the science of phrenology, as taught by 
Gall and Spurzheim, is established on the firmest foundation — obser- 
vation and experience — the above facts are conclusive. 

The following cases are also illustrative of the science of phrenology. 

At the New England Institution for the Education of the Blind, in 
company with Dr. Howe, we went — seriatim — through the rooms, in 
which were taught reading, history, vocal music, arithmetic, grammar 
and instrumental music. The Doctor pointed out the process employed 
in giving instruction to each class. In one of the rooms, about three 
weeks after her admittance into the institution, we saw Laura Bridgman, 
a miss about eight years old, blind, deaf mute, and destitute, or deprived, 
of the sense of smell. She was very much under the command of the 
Doctor,* and very much attached to her governess. 

At this early period, she gave such evidences of the power of ratio- 
cination, and exhibited such capacity of acquiring knowledge, as were 
sufficient to convince the greatest sceptic of the existence of the soul.f 

Last autumn, the day after Thanksgiving, I saw the child again ; 
she had made a surprising progress in the acquisition of knowledge. 

On the evening previous, the children were indulged with the privi- 
lege of amusing themselves in the rotunda, in a distant part of the 
building. Miss Laura happened to be among them ; not wishing her 



* The Doctor said, in answer to my inquiry, that he took her by the hand; she resisted ; 
but holding- her hand firmly, she soon yielded, and permitted him to lead her about the 
room ; — ever after his authority over her was perfect. 

t Of the above remark, the following- statement is confirmatory: 

After making a lew observations on the plan of instruction he designed to adopt, the 
doctor took Laura by the hand, led her down stairs through his office to an adjoining 
china closet, from which he took two hazel-nuts, which he put into her hand, and also 
a nut-cracker, which she attempted to use, but did not succeed ; the doctor having reverted 
the instrument so as to act on die nut, and returned il, she proceeded to crack one of diem, 
put the shells into his hand, and so vviih the second — taking care to retain the meats. We 
then relumed to the room. The governess was not present. As soon as Laura found 
herself at liberty, she ran without a guide through a short entry to the opposite side of an- 
other loom, with the intention of seating herself on an ottoman ; she happened to gel on the 
wrong side, and had she not had the sagacity to discover her error, she would have fallen 
on the floor. 

The manner of yielding to the authority of Dr. Howe ; her understanding the object of 
placing in her hand the nuts and nut-cracker ; the putting the shells in the doctor's hands ; 
the retaining the meats ; the running from one room to the other of her own accord and 
without a guide ; the intention of seating herself on the ottoman, the timely discovery of 
her mistake} are operations of the mind very far from being tiie result of mere iusimet. 



11 

company, they gave her to understand she must withdraw ; when she 
had quit the room, she fastened the door; and, had it not been acci- 
dentally discovered, the misses might have remained there all night. 
To punish her, the governess refused to receive her caresses, or pay 
her the usual attentions. She became dull and dejected ; but her ex- 
pressions of happiness at being reconciled with her governess — which 
took place in consequence of my being present — were particularly in- 
teresting. 

The consciousness of misdemeanor, the effect of the punishment as 
well as of the reconciliation, are, in my opinion, so many abstract oper- 
ations of the mind ; and so many proofs, that she entertains a just sense 
of right and wrong. 

Laura had learned the manual alphabet, by means of which she 
could maintain an interchange of ideas with the governess with a ra- 
pidity and correctness scarcely credible. She asked my name and 
business. At my suggestion, she went leisurely and without groping 
her way, opened the door at the opposite part of the room, and re- 
turned ; then went and shut it and returned again ; she knew about a 
hundred common names or nouns ; when requested to give the idea 
of God, she raised her hand above her head, and made the same 
gesture for sky. These are acts which no animal, not possessing re- 
flective faculties, and deprived of so many senses, could be taught.* 

The following account of this interesting child is contained in the 
" Annual Report" to the Corporators of the New England Institution 
for the Education of the Blind, for the year 1837 : 

" Among the pupils who have entered during the last year, is one 
whose situation makes her an object of peculiar interest and lively 
sympathy ; Laura Bridgman, a very pretty, intelligent, and sprightly 
girl, of eight years, is entirely blind, deaf, dumb, and almost entirely 
deprived of smell,f and has been so since her infancy. Here is a 
human soul shut up in a dark and silent cell ; all the avenues to it are 
closed, except that of touch, and it would seem that it must be but a 
blank; nevertheless it is active, and struggling continually, not only to 
put itself in communication with things without, but to manifest what is 
going on within itself. The child is constantly active ; she runs about 

* See Appendix. 

f For all purposes of use she is without smell, and lakes no notice of the odour of a rose, 
or the smell of cologne water, when held quite near her, though acrid and pungent odours 
seem to affect the olfactory nerve. 



12 

the house, and up and down stairs ; she frolics with the other children, 
or plays with her toys ; she dresses and undresses herself with great 
quickness and precision, and behaves with propriety at the table and 
every where ; she knows every inmate of the house by the touch, and 
is very affectionate to them. She can sew, and knit, and braid, and is 
quite as active and expert as any of the rest of the children. Bat all 
this, interesting as it is, is nothing compared to the mental phenomena, 
which she presents ; she has a quick sense of propriety ; a sense of 
property ; a love of approbation ; a desire to appear neatly and smooth- 
ly dressed, and to make others notice that she is so ; a strong tendency 
to imitation, insomuch that she will sit and hold a book steadily before 
her face in imitation of persons reading. It is difficult to say whether 
she has any sense of right and wrong disconnected with the feeling 
that such an action will be reproved, and such an one approved by 
those about her, but certain it is, she will retain nothing belonging to 
another ; she will not eat an apple or piece of cake which she may 
find, unless signs are made that she may do so. She has an evident 
pleasure in playfully teasing or puzzling others. The different states 
of her mind are clearly marked upon her countenance, which varies 
with hope and fear, pleasure and pain, self-approbation and regret ; 
and which, when she is trying to study out any thing, assumes an ex- 
pression of intense attention and thought. 

" It was considered doubtful when she came whether it would be pos- 
sible to teach her any regular system of signs by which she could ex- 
press her thoughts or understand those of others ; it was deemed highly 
desirable, however, to make the experiment, and thus far it has been 
successful. Common articles, such as a knife, a spoon, a book, &c. 
were first taken, and labelled with their names in raised letters ; she 
was made to feel carefully of the article with the name pasted upon it ; 
then the name was given her on another piece of paper, and she quick- 
ly learned to associate it with the thing. Then the name of the thing 
being given on a separate label, she was required to select the thing 
from a number of other articles, or to find the article ; for instance, 
the word key was given her, on a bit of paper in raised letters ; she 
would at once feel for a key on the table, and, not finding it, would 
rise and grope her way to the door, and place the paper upon the key 
with an expression of peculiar gratification. Thus far no attention was 
paid to the component letters of the word ; the next step was to ascer- 
tain the correctness of her notion, by giving her metal types with the 



13 

separate letters on their ends ; these she soon learned to arrange and 
to spell the word ; for instance, the teacher would touch the child's 
ear, or put her hand on a book, then to the letters, and she would in- 
stantly begin to select the types and to set them in order in a little 
frame used for the purpose, and when she had spelt the word correctly, 
she would show her satisfaction and assure her teacher that she under- 
stood, by taking all the letters of the word and putting them to her ear, 
or on the book. 

" She then learned the arrangement of the letters in the alphabet, and 
is now occupied in increasing her vocabulary of words. Having 
learned the alphabet and the arrangement of letters into words, which 
she associated with things, she was next taught the manual alphabet, 
as used by the deaf mutes, and it is a subject of delight and wonder to 
see how rapidly, correctly, and eagerly she goes on with her labors. 
Her teacher gives her a new object, for instance a pencil, first lets her 
examine it, and get an idea of its use, then teaches her how to spell it 
by making the signs for the letters with her own lingers ; the child 
grasps her hand, and feels of her fingers, as the different letters are 
formed — she turns her head a little one side, like a person listening 
closely — her lips are apart — she seems scarcely to breathe — and her 
countenance, at first anxious, gradually changes to a smile, as she 
comprehends the lesson. She then holds up her little fingers and 
spells the word in the manual alphabet ; next takes her types and 
arranges her letters, and last, to make sure that she is right, she takes 
the whole of the types composing the word, and places them upon or 
in contact with the pencil, or whatever the object may be. 

" The process of teaching her is of course slow and tedious ; the dif- 
ferent steps to it must be suggested by her successive attainments, for 
there are no precedents to go by ;* but thus far the results have been 
most gratifying. She has not yet been long enough under instruction 
(four months only) to have got beyond the names of substances ; the 
more difficult task of giving her a knowledge of names, expressive of 
qualities, feelings, &c. remains yet to be accomplished. No sure prog- 

* Julia Brace, the deaf, dumb, and blind girl, in the Institution for the Deaf Mutes, at 
Hartford, did not succeed in attaining' a knowledge of the written signs significative of ob- 
jects. Julia possessed her senses until the age of four years, and she is aided by a sense of 
smell, sharpened by practice, to the acutencss of the vulture, while Laura has it so imper- 
fectly as that she may be said to be without smell. James Mitchell, whose case is noticed 
by Dugald Stewart and other philosophers, did not learn any system of arbitrary signs, nor 
is there any case on record of a person deprived of sight and hearing succeeding in doing so. 



14 

nostic can be made, but much is to be hoped from the intelligence 
of the child, and the eager delight with which she lends all her atten- 
tion, and the strong effort she evidently makes to gain new ideas ; not 
from fear of punishment, or hope of reward, but from the pleasure 
which the exercise of the faculties confers- upon her. No pains or 
expense will be spared in efforts to develop the moral and intellectual 
nature of this interesting child, and no opportunity lost, of gathering for 
science whatever mental phenomena her singular case may furnish."* 

When we were at Hartford, we visited the Retreat for the Deaf and 
Dumb, where we saw Julia Brace, who was a blind and deaf mute. 
At the intimation of the matron, she came into the parlor, walked 
about the room in an awkward manner, smelt of a geranium leaf, and 
passed out. We saw her again in the room where she usually resides. 
The matron gave her to understand she wished for a pin, she took one 
from her pinball, and kept her finger on the place whence she took it, 
until it was returned ; — occasioning the remark, that she was selfish, and 
that her disposition was far from being amiable. Her aspect was 
morose and repulsive ; she could find the way alone to every part of 
the house ; took charge of the misses' wardrobe : knew all the female 
inmates ; the kind of dress they wore ; and was vain of her own, which 
she was very particular to have made in fashion. Hence with respect 
to this unfortunate young woman,f acquisitiveness and approbativeness 
have degenerated into selfishness and vanity, vices which do not pertain 
to the animal nature. 

On " the importance of the study of the structure and functions of 
the brain," we shall make an extract from Galls Works, vol. ii. p. 40 : 

" In the more complicated animals of the higher orders, all the func- 
tions are more or less subordinate to the brain." " The striking differ- 
ence between the wounds of some animals, and those of man, is well 
known." " Tenacity of life diminishes in proportion as the brain be- 
comes more complex." " In persons whose brains are irritable, how 
often are the most trifling wounds followed by tetanus and trismus ?" 

" It may be assumed, that this irritability is strong in different indi- 
viduals, in proportion as their brain is voluminous and active. In idiots, 
in paralytics, and generally in diseases where the cerebral sensations 
are blunted from any cause, this irritability frequently cannot be excited 
by the most powerful internal and external stimulants. 

* See Appendix. + She bad grown to adult years. 



15 

" Reflect on the tumults which the affections and passions, whose 
immediate seat and original source is in the brain, excite the whole 
man. Do we not behold chagrin, jealousy, envy, languor, homesick- 
ness, misplaced affection, &c. devouring the principle of life ? How 
often has not a too sudden transport of joy, violent fright, or anger, 
destroyed life as suddenly as a thunderbolt ?* Who does not know the 
power of imagination, of attention, and of confidence, in the production 
and cure of diseases, especially nervous diseases, such as epilepsy and 
intermittent fevers ? Those most grievous afflictions, melancholy, hy- 
pochondriasis, despair, a tendency to suicide, hysteria, all the mental 
alienations, with their influences on so many other parts of the body, 
have their principal or immediate causes in the derangement of the 
brain. What an index, consequently, is it, to the treatment of these 
sad maladies ! 

" Volumes have been written on the reciprocal influences of the 
brain, and the viscera of the abdomen and chest. And in general, 
how great must be the utility of the pathological study of the brain, in 
diseases of infancy, in cerebral, atonic, adynamic fevers, in apoplexy, 
in inflammations of the brain, frequently so deceptive, and which, by 
the tremor, spontaneous vomiting, and depression of strength, simulate 
diseases of a total opposite nature." 

The intellectual faculties, and the moral sentiments as well as the 
propensities, in many instances, appear to be hereditary. 

During the time of the embargo, I was desired to visit some sick peo- 
ple, in a large house near Fort Hill wharf, in which lived many poor 
families. I entered a room in which a mother and several children lay 
sick with typhus fever. The whole family consisted of a laboring man, 
with his wife and five children, who, in a state of extreme poverty, had 
recently arrived from the State of Maine, for the purpose of seeking a 
livelihood. The man was employed on board of a vessel, at very small 
wages, — more as a deed of charity, than because his labor was required. 
One of the children lay at the point of death ; two were confined to the 

* Marshall Hall's Theory and Practice of Medicine, edited by Professor Bigelow and by 
Professor Holmes, contains the following- note appended to §293. A ndral cites from an- 
other author the case of an old man, who on hearing, while seated at table, the news of 
Napoleon's landing in France, in 1815, rose suddenly and exclaimed, 

" Le voila done comme connu ce secret plein d'honeur !' ; 
and immediately fell in an apoplectic fit, which soon proved fatal. 

I was once called to a female, who expired instantly in a fit of anger. The same year, 
Dr. Rand was called to a gentleman, who also died instantly from the same cause. 



16 

bed. Languid from fatigue, anxiety, and want of warmth and suste- 
nance, rather than exhausted by the depressing nature of typhus, the 
mother was unable to rise from her bed ; at her bosom was an infant, 
trying in vain to draw nutriment from a dried-up fountain. It was in 
the month of December ; the weather was raw and cold ; a few embers 
were the only indication of a fire ; a sprightly child, about six years 
old, performed the duties of a nurse and help ; and the supply of food 
and clothing were inadequate to the wants of the family. Without the 
necessaries of life and proper nursing, I told the neighbors, the usual 
remedies would be unavailing. My first visit was in the morning ; I 
called again at noon, and was informed a lady was disposed to render 
the family such assistance as might be required to relieve their distressed 
condition, and that she wished to see me at four o'clock. Punctually at 
the time appointed I arrived, and met a lady of a benign aspect and 
dignified deportment. At her request, the nature of the disease was par- 
ticularly described, and every thing calculated to contribute to the com- 
fort and recovery of the sick enumerated. Next morning, I was agreeably 
surprised to find the whole family had been transferred from an abode 
of poverty and misery to a paradise. From a lower, dark and gloomy 
room, they had been removed to a large, commodious, and well-lighted 
chamber, enlivened with a cheerful fire ; a nurse was in attendance ; 
changes of clothing of every description, and, indeed, every requisite 
for a sick chamber, were furnished in abundance ; and, to neglect noth- 
ing that might contribute to the more perfect accommodation of the 
family, several adjoining apartments were procured. But the lady did 
not content herself merely with making ample provision for the comfort 
of the family ; she took upon herself the office of receiving my prescrip- 
tions and directions, and seeing they were followed. At every visit, I 
found her present for the same purpose, until the patients were in a 
state of convalescence. 

The same beneficent spirit which actuated the lady, descended to 
her sons ; — of whose acts of munificence the City affords ample evi- 
dence. 

I have given the above narrative, not only as an example that child- 
ren may inherit the virtues of a parent ; but as an instance of disinter- 
ested benevolence, worthy of the imitation of every disciple of the 
Great Founder of our religion. 

" The heart that feels for others' woes. 
Shall feel each selfish pleasure less ; 
The hand, that happiness bestows. 
Reflected happiness shall bless." 



17 

In the following passage from the Lancet, it appears the celebrated 
French pathologists and physiologists, Andral, Bouillard and Broussais, 
have given their testimony in favor of the doctrine of phrenology : 

" The April number of the Parisian Phrenological Journal contains 
a discourse, pronounced at the annual meeting of the Phrenological 
Society of Paris, 22d of August, 1834, by Professor Andral, the presi- 
dent. The object of Professor Andral in his address, is to show, that 
phrenology " ought henceforth to form a part of the grave and serious 
studies of physiology." He states that, though not a single organ in 
the brain had been determined by Gall, " the foundation of the science 
would not, on that account, have existed the less." He regards excep- 
tions to well established principles as apparent only; and quotes, with 
approbation, the remark of M. Bouillard, that, " while every theory 
which is contradicted by a well observed fact is false, it is not less true 
that every fact which is in contradiction with a rigorously demonstrated 
theory, has been ill observed." " If phrenology," he adds, " be true, give 
yourselves no uneasiness about its future success ; for there is no ex- 
ample on record of any truth which, once launched into the world, has 
failed there to make its way." The following extract from the account 
of the Society's proceedings, by Dr. Casimir Broussais, shows that the 
members take a sound view of their duties : — " I affirm and repeat, in 
the name of my colleagues, that we study phrenology with the com- 
pletest independence : we are fully convinced of the reality of its fun- 
damental principles, but far from pretending that the science is com- 
plete ; we do all in our power to contribute to bring about such a 
result." — Edinburgh Phren. Journal, June, 1835." 



LECTURE: 



PHRENOLOGY NOT OPPOSED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION j 
NOR TO THE PRECEPTS OF CHRISTIANITY. 



Phrenology, as its name denotes, is the doctrine of 
the mind. It is founded on the belief, the individual 
and associate action of the propensities, sentiments and 
intellectual faculties is dependent on certain cerebral 
organs, which are indicated by corresponding prominen- 
ces on the surface of the cranium. 

As the principles of phrenology are considered by 
some to be hostile to the doctrines of Christianity, I 
shall succinctly give my views in relation to this sub- 
ject, which, though they appear, in my opinion, to be 
correct, may not be in consonance with those of the 
reader ; — on the ground, that, by a free intercommuni- 
cation of our belief, whenever a fit opportunity pre- 
sents, the cause of true religion is ultimately advanced. 
But to render what follows more intelligible, I shall 
give a cursory view of the ground-work of the science 
of phrenology. 

As the cerebrum and cerebellum, are the seat of the 
mental faculties, and as the cranium affords the evidence 
of their situation, we shall now proceed to a description 
of these parts. 



20 

The cerebrum, or great brain, of a conical form with 
its apex forward, is composed of two hemispheres, 
separated from each other by a firm membrane, called 
the falciform process of the dura mater, which is not 
seen in the casts of the brain ; each hemisphere is 
divided into three lobes ; the anterior, however, is 
alone conspicuous ; to display the middle and poste- 
rior lobes, it is necessary to have recourse to dis- 
section. Each hemisphere is also of a conical form, 
with its apex pointing forward ; the side towards its 
fellow is pendicular and flat ; its superior and lateral 
surface is round ; its inferior, uneven. Numerous con- 
volutions are seen on the surface ; some taking a longi- 
tudinal direction, others an oblique or transverse ; at 
the bottom of the internal or perpendicular surface, 
there is situated a longitudinal convolution of great 
length, by which a communication is maintained be- 
tween the anterior and posterior lobes, called by Solly 
the superior longitudinal commissure : there are also 
seen anfractuosities or fissures of considerable depth, 
which, however, in the casts, are not very obvious. In 
this organ, the convolutions are the seat of the mental 
faculties. 

The cerebellum, or little brain, somewhat of the form 
of an inverted cone, is situated beneath the cerebrum, 
and is composed of laminae This organ is separated 
from the cerebrum by a firm and strong membrane, call- 
ed the tentorium, which prevents the cerebellum from 
being compressed by the superincumbent weight of a 
portion of the cerebrum. The whole of the cerebellum 
constitutes but one organ. 

The cranium, which contains the brain, has numer- 
ous prominences on its surface, which answer to convo- 



21 

lutions beneath them ; each prominence indicating the 
situation of a mental organ. 

The unity of the functions of the brain, as well as the 
unity of disease, has its advocates. If the brain be an 
unit, it cannot be under the influence of but one faculty 
at a time ; because when one is active the rest must be 
dormant : thus when destructiveness is predominant, 
combativeness, without the co-operation of which the 
propensity to destroy must remain ungratified, cannot 
be brought into action. If veneration were the pre- 
dominant sentiment, it might be intense, but it is incon- 
ceivable how it is to be manifested, unless by genuflec- 
tion or the utterance of inarticulate sounds ; the lan- 
guage of adoration would be impossible ; as where 
unity exists, two cerebral functions cannot be performed 
at the same time : — nothing but the feeling of reverence 
can remain. In the phrenological catalogue, the cere- 
bellum is destined to perform but one function : neither 
destructiveness, combativeness, nor veneration can be 
called into action by this portion of the encephalon ; 
nor, on the other hand, can the function of the cerebel- 
lum be transferred to the cerebrum. The cerebellum 
is a unit, and, therefore, can perform but one function. 

The belief in the plurality of organs is gaining 
ground so rapidly, to discuss the subject at present would 
be superfluous. Among the numerous instances with- 
out having allusion to phrenology, or any knowledge of 
the science, in which observations have been made con- 
firmatory of the existence of a diversity of mental fac- 
ulties, the opinion of Origen alone may suffice, " who 
thinks that every vice has its presiding bad angel, the 
demon of avarice, the demon of fornication, the demon 
of pride, &,c." 



22 

The successive additions of organs in animals, as 
they rise in the scale of beings, and in the growth of 
the fetus, is clearly elucidated by Tiedeman, the learn- 
ed and distinguished German physiologist ; and by 
Solly of England, who is rapidly rising to the highest 
eminence in his profession. 

Every faculty is modified by the condition of its 
organ. One of the chief objects of Dr. Spurzheim's 
coming to this country, was to visit Indian tribes, 
that had not been vitiated by civilization, or by inter- 
course with the civilized, to ascertain what peculiarities 
there might be in the form of the cranium and the struc- 
ture of the brain, to solve the question, whether the 
character and identity of a nation may be known by the 
shape of the head. For the same purpose, he intended 
to visit the Southern States : as the planters are careful 
to inform themselves of the habits and dispositions of 
the various African tribes,* with the view of being bet- 
ter qualified to select individuals, that promised to be 
the most serviceable, it would afford him a better op- 
portunity of discovering their national traits, than by 
visiting the country from which they are brought. 

* The various tribes of negroes in Cuba are thus classified by Mr. Mur- 
ray, in his " Travels." It will be seen that the Congos — the tribe to which 
Joseph, the leader of the Armistad insurrection, belongs — are not very cele- 
brated for their heroism or their bravery. Joseph, however, seems to be an 
exception to the general rule. — Transcript. 

"J. The Congo negroes from the neighborhood of the Gold coast. Of 
these there are several tribes known among the slave dealers ; e. g. the Con- 
go-reales, Congo-loaldo, Congo-mondongo, &c. Their general character is 
lazy, mischievous, and apt to run away ; but lively in their amusements, as 
music, dancing, &c ; very much given to lying, thieving, and all roguery. 
2. Lucumi, also from the west coast of Africa; very proud and haughty; 
they are brave, and are often known to commit suicide, under the irritation 



23 

The following apostrophe from Herder on Man, may 
not be inaptly introduced in favor of this position. 

" Great Parent of nature ; with what trifles hast thou 
connected the fate of the human species ! With a 
change in the form of the head and brain, with a little 
alteration in the structure of the organization and 
nerves, effected by climate, descent and habit, the fate 
of the world, the whole sum of what mankind do and 
suffer throughout the earth, is also changed." 

" Of the absolute or proportionate size of the brain," 
in his Outlines on Phrenology, chap. iv. Doctor Spurz- 
heim says, " a great number of natural philosophers, 
convinced that the brain is the organ of the understand- 
ing, have concluded that its functions must be propor- 
tionate to its absolute size. More exact observations 



of punishment or disgrace,* 3. Macau tribe : from the Mozambique coast ; 
generally quiet, docile, and lazy; not very numerous in Cuba. 4. Caravali 
tribe : from the western coast of Africa ; very industrious and avaricious ; 
also choleric and hasty in temper. Most of the free negroes in the island 
who are rich belong to this tribe. 5. Mina tribe : also from the west ; lazy 
stupid, and of no marked character. 6. Gangas: also from the west; very 
mild and docile, but lazy. The greatest number of the Cuban slaves are 
from this nation. 7. Avara : also from the west ; of no peculiar character. 
8. Mandinga : from the western side ; general character, quiet, obedient, and 
honest." 

* In another part of his work, Mr. M. gives the following 1 instance of the proud disposition 
of the people of this tribe : " While I was yet Mr. l). ; s guest, a messenger arrived from 
his "ingenio" to announce to him that one of his negroes had hanged himself: on inquiry 
he proved to be a young man of the Lucumi tribe. He had not been in the island above 
nine or ten months, and had never been punished, nor had he complained of any ill-treat- 
ment. He committed this suicide under the circumstances which Mr. D. informs me usually 
accompany such an action among the negroes : he asked for his new suit of clothes which 
happened to be due to him at this time, and put them on; he then took his pig, his " ma- 
chete," (a kind of bill-hook with which they cut sugar-cane, wood, &c.) and whatever 
little moveable property he possessed, and gathering it all in a heap under a tree hunp- 
himself over it, This is, doubtless, owing to a superstition prevalent in his tribe, that in the 
world to which he was going, such articles would be useful to him. I have before noticed a 
belief, very similar to this, as common among some of the North American Indians. 



24 

however, show the conclusion to be erroneous. The 
ox has more brain than the dog, and the elephant 
than man, &c. It is indeed impossible, in animals of 
different species, and even in various individuals of the 
same species, to estimate innate mental dispositions by 
the absolute size of the brain in general, or of its parts 
in particular ; because the size of the cerebral organs is 
not the only condition to (of) the greater or less ener- 
gy of their functions. 

"Others, therefore, endeavored to show that the 
powers of the mind are indicated by the proportionate 
volume to the size of the body. Experience, however, 
proves that this mode of measurement is also inexact." 
* # * * "In mankind, it may be well to add, that 
middle sized persons have commonly the largest brains." 

The learned and talented physician, Broussais, en- 
tertains a similar opinion. In speaking of large heads, 
in his lectures on phrenology, he observes, " When 
several organs, tending to produce some great effect, 
co-exist in the same individual, and are endowed with 
a sufficient activity, he becomes a being of a superior 
order, and a blessing to mankind ; though his head be 
a few inches less voluminous than those of several other 
men, his superiority manifests itself, and is obeyed." 

In entertaining and promulgating opinions in accord- 
ance with those of the above gentlemen, I was consid- 
ered to be opposed to phrenology ; and because, it is 
the prevailing belief of the citizens of Boston that the 
perfection of the intellect depends on the size of the 
head. The opinion of Dr. Spurzheim on this subject, 
or that of Dr. Gall, was not known to me till after the 
arrival of the former gentleman in this city. 

In Gall's works, vol. 2d, p. 183, edited by Nahum 



25 

Capen, Esq., " the absolute volume of the brain, com- 
pared with its functions, is discussed/ ■■ 

" If it be admitted/' says the celebrated Dr. Gall, 
" that the brain is the organ of the mind, the conclusion, 
that its functions must have a direct relation with this 
volume, is perfectly natural. A much larger cerebral 
mass has been found in man than in the largest of our 
domestic animals, for example, the ox, and horse ; and, 
without more accurate researches in the animal king- 
dom, the prominent qualities of man were attributed to 
his greater cerebral mass ; the world maintained, gen- 
erally, with Aristotle, Erasistratus, Pliny and Galen, that 
of all animals, man had the most considerable mass of 
brain ; an opinion which has been embraced by some 
moderns. " 

"At a later period it was found, that the cerebral 
mass of the elephant, and several of the cetaceous order, 
was more considerable than that of man. This circum- 
stance would naturally embarrass the partisans of the 
opinion to which we have just referred. In vain shall 
we extol the faculties of the elephant, and constitute 
the whale king over the marine inhabitants ; we shall 
scarcely be authorized to attribute to them those quali- 
ties which form the pride of man. It became necessary, 
therefore, to renounce the opinion, that the intellectual 
faculties were to be estimated by the absolute mass of 
the brain." 

" We see, moreover, that, by means of an extremely 
small cerebral mass, nature can produce the most won- 
derful effects ; instances of this are the ant and the 
bee ; who has not observed their domestic economy, 
local memory, mechanical activity, their anger, the re- 
venge which they inflict in a body, their careful educa- 
4 



26 

tion of the young, the harmony which reigns in a hive, 
or ant-hill?" " Who will venture to say, that nature 
is deficient in the brain of the minutest insect, and that 
she has exhausted her resources in the brain of the 
whale ?" 

" If the mass were to be considered, if its integrant 
parts were not to be regarded as elements in the calcu- 
lation, the only difference between animals possessing 
a large cerebral mass, and those having a small brain, 
would be a greater or less intensity in the exercise of 
the intellectual faculties. The qualities peculiar to 
each species cannot be explained by the mere mass of 
the brain. The individuals of one species live solitary, 
those of another form societies ; in some, the males and 
females live in a state of marriage ; in others, no lasting 
union exists between the sexes. One kind of animal 
takes the greatest care of its offspring ; another aban- 
dons them : some animals build habitations ; others 
migrate ; others sing, &c. Can all these different in- 
stincts be explained by the magnitude of the cerebral 
mass 1 It is then idle, to seek, in the absolute mass of the 
brain, for a scale by which to measure the instincts, propen- 
sities and faculties." 

In the American Phrenological Journal and Miscel- 
lany, August 1, 1839, article 1st, Thoughts on the most 
effective condition of the Brain or the organ of the mind, 
and on the modes of obtaining it, by Dr. Caldwell, M. D., 
is found the Professor's views on the subject. 

" By the foes of phrenology, its advocates are charged 
with an attempt to maintain, as one of their settled and 
fundamental tenets, that the size of the human brain is 
alone a correct measure of the amount and strength of 
the human intellect. In more definite language, that 



27 

as are the dimensions of the contents of the cranium, so 
are, and must be, the mental compass, power, and ac- 
tion of the individual to whom they belong. 

" From whatever cause or motive it may arise, this 
is a casual mistake, or an intentional misrepresentation, 
which might be well called disreputable, not to charac- 
terize it by a more condemnatory epithet. Phrenolo- 
gists, as their writings and teachings abundantly prove, 
do not represent size alone as the exclusive measure of 
the power and excellence of the human brain. " 

These extracts have been made for two reasons; 1st, 
because, entertaining and promulgating opinions in ac- 
cordance with those of the above gentlemen, as will 
appear in the sequel, I was considered to be opposed 
to phrenology ; and 2d, because it is the prevalent be- 
lief of the citizens of Boston, that the perfection of the 
intellect depends on the size of the brain. On this 
subject, the opinion of Drs. Spurzheim, Gall, Broussais 
and Caldwell were unknown to me, until after the arri- 
val of the former in this city. 

In an Essay on the Ganglionary System of Nerves in 
the Cavity of the Cranium, and its Use, by William In- 
galls,* M. D Boston, (Marsh, Capen and Lyon,) are to 
be found the following passages : 

§ I. — " The energy of the brain and the due perform- 
ance of its functions, as it has been supposed, do not 
depend — wholly — on its volume, nor the size of its 
convolutions. " 

§ II. — " As in other viscera, the perfect organization 
of the brain is undoubtedly a condition essential to the 
performance of its functions with exactitude and ener- 

# The author of this Lecture. 



28 

gy; for, a malconformation, or some defect in its minute 
structure, not cognizable by the senses, may render the 
viscus unsusceptible of impressions, necessary to its 
vigorous and healthy action." 

§ III. — " From the following post-mortem examina- 
tions it may be inferred, the size of the brain, the 
number, depth and thickness of the convolutions, are 
merely conditions, but, perhaps, necessary conditions, 
in the production of thought, and the propensities to 
which man is subject." 

Case 1.— "In this case, the person was subject to 
frequent, and great mental excitations. The brain was 
of extraordinary dimensions, and all its parts were un- 
commonly developed : the convolutions were large, 
distinct and numerous." 

Case 2. — " Was the dissection of the brain of a person 
who sustained the reputation of possessing fine intellec- 
tual powers, and who had practised law with reputation 
and success. The brain was small ; the convolutions 
were diminutive, comparatively indistinct, and appa- 
rently more numerous than usual." 

Case 3. — " Was the dissection of the brain of an idiot, 
of a very diminutive stature. In this subject, the ca- 
pacity of the cranium in proportion to the size of the 
body, was exceedingly small ; the cerebrine convolu- 
tions were few in number, but very large and uncom- 
monly distinct. This idiot was wholly destitute of 
understanding, and devoid of every propensity, good or 
bad." 

Case 4. — " Was the brain of a man possessing a de- 
gree of intellect, but was so much of an idiot, he was 
incapable of providing for his physical wants ; and, on 
this account, he was placed under the superintendence 



29 

of a brother. The brain was large, and all its parts 
fully developed." 

" In this individual, the intellect remained unimpaired 
till he arrived at the age of nine years, when, after a 
severe fever, ensued, the mental imbecility, which con- 
tinued through life. Several analogous cases occurred 
in the same family." 

The mental faculties maybe divided into two orders; 
" the feelings and the intellectual faculties." Belong- 
ing to the first order are two genera : — the 1st, com- 
prises " propensities common to man with the lower 
animals;" — the 2d, " sentiments common to man and 
the lower animals;" and " sentiments proper to man;" 
the first is situated in the lower, lateral and posterior 
part of the head ; the second in the superior, lateral 
and occipital region. Belonging to the second order, 
are four genera; 1st, — "the external senses;" — 2d, 
the " knowing faculties which perceive the existence and 
qualities of external objects ;" — 3d, the " knowing fac- 
ulties which perceive the relations of external objects ;" 
— 4th, the " reflective faculties, which compare, judge, 
and discriminate :"* — the three last genera are situated 
chiefly in the frontal region. 

In the superior part of the forehead, on each side of 
the mesial line are situated two organs, which have re- 
ceived the appellation of the organs of comparison and 
causality, which are the seat of the reflective faculties. 
Dependent on these are the operations of the various 
affections of the understanding, namely conscientious- 
ness, memory, reason, judgment, motives and freedom 



# I have adopted the classification of Mr. George Combe. 



30 

of the will. All the combinations of these affections in 
the last result may be resolved into intuition. 

The manifestations of the freedom of the will, are 
very different from the promptings of instinct. The 
sphere of action of the latter is very limited, while that 
of the former is unbounded. The one is confined to 
the objects of sense, the other is not necessarily con- 
trolled by extraneous influences. The power of re- 
ducing the impulses of instinct into subjection, and con- 
forming to the dictates of conscience and reason, is a 
property of the will pertaining exclusively to man. 
Animals of the lower order are instigated to action 
solely by their appetites, passions, and involuntary ef- 
forts, arising from the instinctive apprehension of danger. 

The will is the faculty, by which we are capacitated 
to submit or refuse to be governed in our conduct by 
adventitious circumstances. This position may be elu- 
cidated by analyzing the operations of the general laws 
by which the universe is governed in producing the 
effect of a special providence. 

A gentleman living in a village owes a person in a 
distant hamlet, a sum of money, which he is prepared to 
pay. Accordingly he sets apart a particular day to 
visit his creditor, and pay him the amount due. A per- 
son, hearing of his intention, resolved to waylay him in 
a wood which was on the road, for the purpose of rob- 
bing him. The gentleman set out with the view of ful- 
filling the object of his visit. When on his way, just 
before he arrived at the wood, where the robber was 
concealed, a thunder-storm arose which determined him 
to take shelter in a farm-house near by. The robber 
having waited a long while after the time appointed for 
the gentleman to pass had elapsed, abandoned his pro- 



31 

ject. After the storm subsided the gentleman accom- 
plished his object without molestation. 

Hence, actuated by conscientiousness, it did not 
require much reasoning nor exercise of judgment to 
determine the gentleman in the choice of measures, 
or in willing to do an act of justice. Notwithstand- 
ing the storm alluded to induced him to seek shell er 
in the farm-house, his will was free to pursue his jour- 
ney, or to return, or remain stationary. In resolving to 
rob the gentleman, in selecting the place of conceal- 
ment, and in the relinquishing his design, the conduct 
of the robber — in whom undoubtedly existed acquisi- 
tiveness with its auxiliary organs, secretiveness and 
combativeness — was influenced by so many acts of the 
will. But to return : 

Religion is the peculiar characteristic of humanity, 
the capacity of a knowledge of the Supreme Being, and 
rendering him homage, is the prerogative of man. No 
other animal is capable of improvement in the social 
state, acquisition in the arts and sciences, or holding 
communion with the Infinite. Though the lower ani- 
mals possess some propensities and sentiments in com- 
mon with man, they are not susceptible of religious 
impressions, nor feeling the influence of moral restraint ; 
but conscience and freedom of the will are faculties pe- 
culiar to man, and constitute him a free and moral agent. 
Hence it is the duty of the latter to obey the command- 
ments of God, and conform to the precepts of morality; 
while, destitute of the capacity of distinguishing between 
good and evil, and devoid of the sense of moral obliga- 
tion, animals are not amenable to divine or human laws. 

God is incomprehensible, and necessarily so ; as it 
is impossible for a finite to comprehend an infinite be- 



32 

ing, or entertain an adequate idea of the nature, the 
eternity or the perfections of the Supreme Intelligence.* 
" My thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are 
your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." 

There is bat one only living true God. Infinite, all- 
powerful, self-existent. He is prior and superior to all 
other beings. These attributes are inalienable. No 
person, then, can be equal to him either in substance 
or power, or glory. — Two infinite beings cannot exist at 
the same time. 

In my apprehension, all the attributes of the Deity 
are deducible from supreme intelligence ; the basis or 
source of which is altogether inexplicable. It is also 
in vain we attempt to affix a definite idea to essence, 
spirit, entity or immateriality. Whatever notions we 
entertain of these subjects are necessarily inferential. 
The arguments adduced by Cousin, that a positive 
knowledge of God may be acquired, is in my opinion 
more ingenious than convincing. 

The term substance is, perhaps, inapplicable to the 
divine nature, as its etymology implies subordination ; 



# In the newspapers, there have been recently some amusing attempts to 
limit the duration of eternity and the extent of infinity — subjects far above 
human comprehension — by mathematical theorems. In our present state of 
existence, the mind is conscious of past and future time ; it follows, then, as 
there is neither beginning nor end of time, there must be a retrospective 
and a prospective eternity; which inference may be demonstrated to be as 
correct by calculation, as a self-evident proposition ; — arithmetic being found- 
ed entirely on supposition. On assumed data, also, the existence of as 
many infinities as there are mathematical points in the periphery of a circle 
whose diameter is infinite, may be demonstrated. 



33 

it may with far more propriety be applied to the soul, 
it being the production of creative power. Further, 
substance has reference to the body as well as the soul. 
Hence we are apt to fancy the soul in the future state 
represents, but in a faint or almost imperceptible man- 
ner, the form and image of the body previous to disso- 
lution. But as God is only known by the manifesta- 
tions of his attributes, the possibility of his possessing, 
even in imagination, the similitude of material or imma- 
terial substance, can by no means be admitted. 

In this place, it may not be improper to advert to an 
objection to phrenology, which is, that our knowledge 
of religion is already sufficient, and to attempt to get a 
clear view of God's providence, his relation to man, 
and the connection of the soul with the body, amounts 
almost to profanation. As if, by investigating the laws 
of universal nature, it be within the grasp of the human 
mind to trace effects to causes, till we arrive at the first 
cause of all things, and in point of knowledge become 
equal with God ; vain attempt ! In intelligence, the 
highest archangel is, and ever will be at an infinite dis- 
tance from the all-wise God. This objection to phren- 
ology, and the bigotry which induced the Kalif Omar 
to give to his general Amrou the order to destroy the 
Alexandrian library are similar in principle, and in 
their tendency to check the career of knowledge.* 



* The above sentiment is much more elegantly and forcibly expressed in 
the following extract from " Practical Observations upon the Education of 
the People," by Lord Brougham : 

" Happily the time is past and gone when bigots could persuade mankind 
that the lights of* philosophy were to be extinguished as dangerous to reli- 
gion ; and when tyrants could proscribe the instructers of the people as en- 
emies to their power. It is preposterous to imagine that the enlargement 



34 

By means of the Aristotelian art, Xenophanes under- 
took to prove the eternity and self-existence of God ; 
and maintained his ground with great ability and inge- 
nuity ; but the attempt to render a subject that is far 
above the comprehension of the most exalted minds 
clear and conclusive by metaphysical subtilty, or syllo- 
gistic reasoning, must from its very nature be ineffec- 
tual and unsatisfactory. Truth is intuitive. There is 
no direct process of reasoning by which truth can be 
proved ; but when by the dissipation of the mists of 
error by which it is obscured, it be clearly seen, the 
mind becomes instantaneously and immediately con- 
vinced not only of its existence, but its nature and 
essential quality. The God of truth, however, is 
placed at such an immeasurable distance, the finite 
mind will never arrive at a full vision of his perfection 
and glory. 

Prior to the christian era, there were numerous sects 
of philosophers ; men of lofty genius, extensive learn- 
ing, indefatigable in study, and permitting no obstacle 
to deter them from the acquisition of knowledge ; who 

of our acquaintance with the laws which regulate the universe, can dispose 
to unhelief. It may be a cure for superstition — for intolerance it will be the 
most certain cure ; but a pure and true religion has nothing to fear from the 
greatest expansion which the understanding can receive by the study either 
of matter or of mind. The more widely science is diffused, the better will 
the Author of all things be known, and the less will the people be " tossed 
to and fro by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie 
in wait to deceive." To tyrants, indeed, and bad rulers, the progress of 
knowledge among the mass of mankind, is a great object of terror : it is 
fatal to them and their designs : they know this by unerring instinct, and 
unceasingly they dread the light. But they will find it more easy to curse 
than to extinguish. It is spreading in spite of them, even in those countries 
where arbitrary power deems itself most secure ; and in England, any at- 
tempt to check its progress would only bring about the sudden destruction 
of him who should be insane enough to make it," 



35 

treated of the nature of the gods ; the immortality of 
the soul ; metempsychosis ; the apotheosis of heroes 
and benefactors of mankind ; the existence of good 
and evil spirits ; pantheism ; theodicy ; theurgy ; and 
such other subjects as their fancy might suggest, or 
their judgment approve. Among the most conspicuous 
were Zoroaster, Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, 
Aristotle, Diogenes, Zeno and Epicurus, who founded 
schools, in which were taught their theories of philos- 
ophy and their systems of ethics. 

At the present day, it is almost incredible, the 
length of time these philosophers devoted to their 
studies, as well as the time they consumed in visiting 
various and distant countries for the purpose of being 
instructed in esoteric doctrines of philosophy, and initi- 
ated in the mysteries of priesthood. Pythagoras, it is 
said, visited Babylon, Persia and Hindostan before his 
return. In this way, without doubt, they imbibed many 
theories and principles, which were incorporated in 
their systems of philosophy. 

The several systems maintained their ground, until 
they were supplanted by the eclectic philosophy, which 
originated in Alexandria, the great literary emporium, 
and the great mart of the Eastern continent. This city, 
having free and uninterrupted intercourse with the in- 
habitants of Asia, Africa and Europe, afforded facilities 
favorable for the attainment of the prevalent doctrines 
of the Eastern and Western philosophy. No particular 
system having obtained the preeminence, recourse was 
had to the demolition of the fabrics, which had been 
erected with unwearied labor by men possessing genius, 
learning, wisdom, unsurpassed in any age ; and the es- 
tablishment of the eclectic philosophy on its ruins. 



36 

This innovation, so far from being attended with benefi- 
cial results, led to the abandonment of the usual, and, 
perhaps, correct ratiocination ; the introduction of phi- 
losophism ; depravity of manners and morals ; and the 
dereliction of a due sense of Divine superintendence. 
Thus, the ligaments which bind society together were 
loosened ; and the people, not feeling the restraining 
influence of moral and religious duty, became licentious 
and dissolute ; addicted to excessive indulgence of the 
passions and appetites, and, deluded by the necroman- 
cy, incantation and divination of sorcerers, false prophets 
and false Messiahs, were induced to believe, these pow- 
ers were derived from a divine source ; and, of course, 
these impostors had a right to demand acquiescence in 
their impositions, and compliance with such exactions 
as they might see fit to impose. "There were, also, 
many gods, celestial, terrestial and infernal ; superior 
and inferior ; who were adored as independent gods, or 
intermediate beings, appointed to authority, in distinct 
departments, by their supreme deity ; and mediators in 
some sense between him and mankind." * The suprem- 
acy of the one only and true God was not acknowl- 
edged ; the mind wandering and benighted had no dis- 
tinct conception of piety toward God, nor duty towards 
man ; moral darkness and religious gloom assumed 
daily a deeper shade. At this juncture, there appeared 
a small, mild but inextinguishable light ; " the true light 
that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 

The Messiah referred to by St. John, is not only the 
true light, but from his own declaration he is the " way, 
the truth and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father 

# Scott's Notes on the Bible, 



37 

but by him." "As many as received him (the true 
light) to them gave he power (the right and privilege) 
to become the sons of God." * "As many as are led 
by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The 
spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are 
the children of God, and if children, then heirs and joint 
heirs with Christ." | Thus it seems we are not only 
elevated to the dignity of the sons of God, but the in- 
estimable privilege of being joint heirs with Christ. If 
we are the sons of God and joint heirs with Christ, we 
are entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the 
latter. 

The great design of the ministry of the Messiah was, 
and indeed now is, not only to detach man from the 
worship of idols ; the commission of crime ; and the 
indulgence of the passions, to which they were incited 
by the genial influence of the climate, and the frequent 
repetition of sensual gratifications ; but in accordance 
with his divine example, to make the Deity the supreme 
object of adoration, and his attributes the subject of 
our meditation ; as the certain means of exalting the 
affections, and purifying the heart. To avoid, there- 
fore, the seductions of metaphysical philosophy, and 
shun the delusions of false prophets, on the one hand ; 
and, on the other, to make the doctrines of the gospel 
the guide in temporal and spiritual concerns ; constitute 
the palingenesia required and insisted upon with so 
much earnestness to be essential for us to become by 
adoption the sons of God. 

In the first epistle to the Corinthians, the subordina- 
tion of the Messiah is unequivocally expressed : " when 

* St. John. f St. Paul. 



38 

all things," says St. Paul, " shall be subdued unto him, 
then shall the son be subject unto him that put all 
things under him, that God may be all in all." Beside, 
his addressing the Deity as his father, and his acknowl- 
edging the relation to him, as son, show, the Messiah 
lays no claim to divine perfection, nor to his being 
competent to assume and exercise the underived attri- 
butes of the Supreme Being. Hence it follows, the 
meek and lowly Jesus aspired to no exclusive privi- 
leges ; nor aimed to attain a station more exalted than 
might fall to the lot of every man who should worship 
God in spirit and truth. 

Because the Messiah virtually disclaims the title and 
prerogative of the Sovereign of the Universe, is the 
religion pure and undefined which cometh down from 
heaven, and is so easily understood that he that runs 
may read, to be rejected — is the divine system of mor- 
ality contained in the scriptures to be disregarded — are 
his consolations which are neither few nor small to be 
withheld ? By no means. The truth as promulgated 
by the ministry of the Messiah is self-evident, and from 
its rapid progress, and extensive propagation, it amounts 
almost to demonstration, its prevalence will become 
ultimately universal. 

With regard to religion, the sects may be resolved 
into three grand divisions, christians, mohammedans, 
and pagans, the number that has embraced Christianity 
is two hundred and fifty millions, while that of moham- 
medans and pagans is two hundred millions each. Such 
is the silent, progressive and efficient influence of the 
doctrines of the Prince of Peace, the christians exceed 
in number both of the other denominations fifty mil- 



39 

lions,* and the continual addition of converts to the 
cross is an irrefragable demonstration of the potency of 
truth ; which will undoubtedly continue to go forth 
conquering and to conquer, until the errors of pagan 
idolatry, Jewish bigotry, popish superstition, moham- 
medan delusion, christian intolerance and sectarian- 
ism — the great obstacles to its progress — be exposed 
and exterminated. 

At the first glance, the following text seems to mili- 
tate with the subordination of the Messiah : " who, as 
St. Paul says, " being in the image of God, thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God." In its limited 
sense, this sentence may be of similar import with the 
one in the sermon on the mount ; " be ye perfect, even 
as your Father in heaven is perfect/' and, therefore, is 
not repugnant to the christian religion ; but taken in 
its most comprehensive signification it involves the doc- 
trine of emanation, a doctrine incompatible with the 
existence of an immortal soul ; and, therefore, incon- 
sistent with Christianity. According to this doctrine, 
the emanation imparted to the human frame, and on 
which, its believers think, life and the functions both 
physical and mental depend, at death, returns to the 
source whence it proceeded, with which it becomes 
blended, and all consciousness of a prior and sepa- 
rate existence is lost. If, therefore, the existence of 
the Messiah were attributable to a direct emanation 
from the Deity — if I may be allowed the absurdity of 
reversing the definition of the term — the emanation 
which gave activity to his corporeal powers and mental 



-"Boodhism enchains the mind of more 
than half of the human race." 



40 

faculties when he departed this life, went back to the 
boundless and unfathomable fountain, whence it issued ; 
by which event, as the river returns and is lost in the 
ocean, all distinction between him and God disappeared, 
together with his personality and mediatorial office. It 
is thought by the Gnostics, that to divine emanations or 
eons (aeons) heroes and benefactors of mankind, are in- 
debted for eminence and distinction. According to this 
doctrine, it follows necessarily, that in the future state 
individuality and accountability are made void ; man- 
kind are irresponsible for the deeds done in the body ; 
the existence of the soul impossible ; and annihilation 
inevitable. 

God and the holy spirit are co-existent ; conse- 
quently, the influences of the divine attributes and the 
operations of the Holy Spirit are identical. God and 
the holy spirit are not distinct persons ; they are in- 
separable in office and attributes. There is but one 
Supreme Being ; " the Lord our God is but one Lord ;" 
there is no necessity of having recourse to a triune God 
to explain the precepts of Christianity. Christianity 
has no need of being bolstered up by the devices of 
human wisdom. The path of duty is plain, which is to 
follow in the footsteps of the Savior of mankind, and to 
obey the commandments, " to love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart ; and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind ; and thy neighbor 
as thyself." 

To exercise our intellectual faculties in investigating 
the phenomena of nature, the philosophy of the mind, 
and, abstractly, the relation between God and man, 
tends to exalt the understanding, and strengthen the 
mind. However proper and salutary this exercise may 



41 

be, so far from being productive of religion, it renders 
the mind less susceptible of its influences. It leads to 
refinements and subtle distinctions, repugnant to the 
simplicity of the Gospel ; to metaphysical and theolog- 
ical speculations and polemic divinity, which so over- 
shadow the mind with doubt and distrust, as to render 
the vision of evangelical truth confused and indistinct. 
According to President Dwight, " the numerous here- 
sies, which have disturbed the church, and visited man- 
kind, have been, almost without exception, the offspring 
of philosophy." 

This, indeed, will be the effect of philosophy, until 
its principles be fully developed and clearly defined. 
To arrive at this desirable goal, is the aim of every 
cultivated and well-regulated mind — but its progresses 
retarded by an obstacle which is not easily surmounted. 
Truth is seldom unalloyed. Every system hitherto 
promulgated, has been blended with numerous errors. 
Theory has been supplanted by theory. The time, 
however, will come, when the clouds of error — by which 
philosophical theories are surrounded and rendered ob- 
scure — will be dispersed, and truth appear in all its 
brightness and just proportions ; when " true philoso- 
phy and true religion must ultimately arrive at the same 
principle/' 

As philosophy has not been reduced to fixed princi- 
ples it may, in some measure, deserve the above cen- 
sure of the Rev. Doctor. Heresy, however, is un- 
doubtedly, partly, ascribable to the formation of churches 
distinguished by different creeds, which cannot bear the 
test of philosophic scrutiny ; partly, to their retaining, 
even in this enlightened age, the spirit of authority, 
which was almost universally exerted over the mind, 
6 



42 

during the prevalence and ascendency of Eclecticism 
or New Platonism, which formed the great obstacle to 
the introduction of Christianity ; and, partly, to the 
authority of the several churches by which each mem- 
ber is bound to submit, and espouse their creed ; — 
otherwise, he is denounced as an outcast ; or, if he 
embrace the tenets of another persuasion, he is stigma- 
tized as a heretic. Sectarianism in religion as well as 
diversity of opinions in philosophy is, at the pres- 
ent day, as repugnant to the simplicity of scriptural 
doctrines and the acquisition of knowledge, human and 
divine, as it was, of old, among the Jews ; — the absurd- 
ity of which is exposed and reproved in the interesting 
allegory of the good Samaritan. The religion taught 
by the Messiah consists, not in the attainment of world- 
ly authority, but in yielding implicit belief in the ex- 
istence of God, as our Heavenly Father ; the wisdom 
of providence ; and the necessity of a strict observance 
of the precepts of morality, as embodied in the gospel. 
During the middle ages, the mind was shackled by 
authority. " Politics, morality, religion, literature and 
the sciences," were subjected to certain established 
dogmas, a deviation from which was denounced as he- 
retical. But from the revival of letters, " the spirit of 
authority" was gradually undermined, and eventually 
overthrown by the spirit of independence. For specu- 
lation were substituted experience and observation. 
Bacon and Descartes led the way ; — but it was reserved 
for the genius of Locke to liberate the mind from scho- 
lastic thraldom. This great metaphysician considered, 
our ideas were derived from sensation and reflection ; 
and preserved the distinction between these two sources 
of knowledge with great care ; but by a perversion of 



43 

his theory, his followers reduced them to sensation 
alone ; — which by a necessary gradation leads to mate- 
rialism, atheism and nihilism. The theory of Dugald 
Stewart and other Scotch metaphysicians is, that our 
ideas are derived mainly from judgments which we in- 
tuitively form of the objects of contemplation, rather than 
from " transformed sensations." Cousin and other French 
metaphysicians are assiduously engaged in establishing 
a system of psychology on this basis. The school to 
which these belong is denominated the spiritual ; the 
one of which Locke is the founder the sensual. Of the 
tendency of the latter, and its perversion by his follow- 
ers we have already spoken. The exaggeration of the 
doctrines of Cousin, and the neglect of giving due 
weight to the knowledge to be obtained through the 
medium of the senses, tend to pantheism and, conse- 
quently, the subversion of Christianity. 

From these premises, it follows, sectarianism and 
discordant opinions in philosophy, are great impedi- 
ments to the progress of evangelical truth. 

Man is endued with a soul possessing faculties with 
which he is able not only to receive impressions from 
the external world, and to originate ideas without the 
instrumentality of the senses ; but to hold communion 
with the Divinity. 

The soul is an immaterial and intelligent substance. 
The reflective faculties, when brought into a state of 
action, are merely the manifestations of the soul, and 
its mode of action on the human body. Notwithstand- 
ing the soul resides chiefly in the reflective organs, it 
is capable of controlling the sentiments and propensi- 
ties, and exerting an influence throughout the rest of 
the system. The organs in the basilar region we 



44 

possess in common with the brute creation. From 
the perceptive and reflective organs man derives 
the power of perceiving an illimitable number of 
external objects, and the capacity of knowing his 
thoughts. Deficient in these respects, animals are 
confined to the perception of a few surrounding ob- 
jects, and to the influence of a few instinctive propen- 
sities, essential to the preservation and continuance of 
their kind ; and, further, their intellectual powers, if, 
indeed, they possess any, are very partially developed, 
and, in a very slight degree, impart additional activity 
to the various instincts of the several species. Thus, 
the actions of. animals being determined chiefly by nat- 
ural impulse or propensity, their capacity for the acqui- 
sition of knowledge is extremely problematical ; but 
man, beside possessing the instinctive sagacity of ani- 
mals, has the power of contemplating the wide range 
of nature ; and exploring the spiritual, and, of course, 
the invisible world. 

Gall, in the location of the mental organs, adopted 
strictly the method of Bacon and Descartes — observa- 
tion and experience. His positions relative to phren- 
ology were the result of the most rigorous induction. 

The consciousness and reason of philosophers, the 
inward man of the New Testament, the I of Descartes, 
the inner man of the Friends, the subjective certainty 
of Watts, the reflection of Locke, the intuition of Du- 
gald Stewart, the moi of the French psychologists, the 
spontaneity of Cousin, designate the same operation of 
the soul. Among the above synonyms is the French 
term — moi, translated by Ripley, author of Foreign Lite- 
rature — me. (Those who would wish to become con- 
versant with psychology, by the perusal of his defini- 



45 

tion relative to the me, would find himself richly re- 
paid.) The me is the consciousness of our identity, 
the power of abstraction, and the ability of discerning 
and appreciating goodness, beauty and truth. The 
agency of the me or inner light in conducting us to the 
knowledge of the Deity, as well as the principles of 
true philosophy, is most ably illustrated in the contrast 
between the work of Penn and of Locke. # The same 
writer has translated the French term — non moi — not 
me. The not me refers to ideas we receive through 
the medium of the senses. 

By the me and not me we are not only capacitated 
to derive knowledge from the impressions of sensible 
objects ; but from thoughts unincumbered by the intru- 
sion of ideas arising from the material world. By the 
me we have it in our power to call home our thoughts, 
and shut out the world : this we do whenever we are 
engaged in profound meditation. The me and not me 
are elegantly alluded to in the following quotation : 
" The scholar who is accustomed to the pursuits of ab- 
stract philosophy, lives in a region of thought far dif- 
ferent from that by which he is surrounded." * The 
me, or inner light, has relation to a power (soul) differ- 
ent from the body ; but which is capable of exerting 
an influence on the encephalon so as to give activity 
and efficiency to the intellectual organs ; the not me 
embraces the knowledge derived from material objects 
through the medium of the senses ; but no impression 
from without or within can take effect when conscious- 
ness is absent, for this is the connecting bond or tele- 
graph between the body and soul, by which intelligence 
between them is maintained. 

* History of the United States, by George Bancroft. 



46 

With regard to the materiality of the soul, the opin- 
ion of President Dwight is, " thoughts cannot be super- 
added to matter so as in any sense to render it true that 
matter can be cogitative." The President, it seems, 
indirectly concedes the point, that thoughts are con- 
nected with matter, and, T believe, this is all that 
phrenologists claim ; our position is, that matter does 
not think ; but that certain organs are essential to the 
manifestation of the mental faculties ; so that when an 
organ is deficient, the faculty peculiar to it cannot be 
called into action. 

Moral perfection consists in the well poised faculties 
of the mind ; in conforming to the dictates of unbiassed 
reason ; in a due subjection of the propensities ; and 
the perfect regulation of the sentiments. No endow- 
ment of the mind in the state of innocence had the pre- 
ponderance ; each performed its function in harmony 
with the rest. This was exemplified before the fall in 
the person of Adam ; " the glory of whose mind, then, 
was, its freedom from every false bias ; it. had no beset- 
ting sin, no warp to injure it." But with the first 
transgression, the empire of the mind was shaken to its 
foundation ; the sentiments and passions revolted ; and 
notwithstanding the combined efforts of reason and 
will to reduce them to subjection, they often proved 
abortive ; so that the mental faculties no longer retain- 
ing their equipoise ; — the propensities, sentiments, and 
reflective faculties, affording every gradation of exces- 
sive and defective energy, may account for diversity of 
talent, the great number and variety of crimes, and 
their dependence on the disproportionate dimensions 
and activity of the mental organs. 

Adam lived nine hundred years, which afforded am- 



47 

pie time for a change in the cranium and brain to have 
taken place ; if it were not so, it is evident, it must 
have happened in the encephalon of Cain — his first born 
son — the organ of destructiveness was inordinately de- 
veloped. 

It affords me singular satisfaction to find my opin- 
ion, that the conformation of the head may be alter- 
ed, and the mind become degenerate, by the irreg- 
ular excitations of the several mental organs, is corrob- 
orated by Baron Swedenborg, the author of the system 
of doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church, in the fol- 
lowing extract ; which must be peculiarly interesting 
to the reader, as is every other product of the pen of 
this illustrious personage. " Every man that is born 
has a disposition to all sorts of evil, which must be 
checked by education, and as far as is possible rooted 
out, This is first to be attempted by correction and 
punishment ; then by good society and example, which 
lead to imitation ; and at last good is secured upon a 
true and reasonable religious root. When these con- 
ditions are all observed, it is indicated by the beautiful 
skull of the individual. On the contrary, should the ed- 
ucation be neglected, or no sudden misfortune, nor op- 
position, hinder the first outbreakings of evil, or disor- 
der, the evil afterwards becomes habit, and produces 
peculiar wishes, both in design and practice, which 
cause the formation of a badly shaped skull. The 
cause of the difference of the skulls is this : The pe- 
culiar distinctions of man, will and understanding, have 
their seats in the brain, which is excited by the fleeting 
desires of the will, and the ideas of the intellect. Near 
the various spots where these irritations produce their 
effects, this or that part of the brain is called into a 



48 

greater or less degree of activity, and forms along with 
itself corresponding parts of the skull" 

From the concurrent testimony of painters, divines, 
and ecclesiastic historians, it appears the configuration of 
the head of the Messiah was perfect, and his features 
regular and handsome. However this may be, he pos- 
sessed the divinity that stirs within us, or the inner 
light, or the me, in the highest degree, by which he 
was endowed with the capacity of holding the most in- 
timate communion with his Father in heaven, and by 
the not me — which he also possessed in an eminent de- 
gree — he had the clearest insight into human nature and 
the operations of physical laws. 

The Messiah was worthy of being the Vicegerent of 
God, the founder of our religion, and the framer of the 
perfect system of morality. His powers of mind were 
equal to Adam's in the state of innocence ; all his fac- 
ulties were accurately balanced ; the sentiments and 
propensities were perfectly under the command of his 
will ; no temptation, nor flattery, nor torment, could 
overcome his firmness, or disturb his equanimity. The 
most poignant suffering and gross indignity he bore 
without a murmur. Nothing could induce him to 
swerve from doing the work his Father gave him to 
do. He maintained rectitude in morals and rever- 
ence of God, from the commencement of his ministry 
to the time when he bowed his head and gave up the 
ghost. 



APPENDIX 



"The biography of a child may furnish much to "point a moral ," 
though it may not serve to " adorn a tale ;" and there is in the simple 
story of the past sufferings and present dreary isolation of Laura 
Bridgman much to interest and instruct. 

She was born of intelligent and respectable parents, in Hanover, N. 
H. When a mere infant, she was subject to very painful and danger- 
ous " fits," the nature of which do not seem to have been well under- 
stood. Until twenty months old, though a pretty and interesting child, 
she was weak and fragile — a breath would have blown out the flame ; 
but at that age she began to rally ; her health seemed firmly establish- 
ed ; her mental faculties rapidly developed themselves, and when she 
attained her second year she was more intelligent and sprightly than 
common children; she could already prattle some words, and had 
mastered the difference between A and B. But in a month after, her 
sky was again overcast ; she sickened and came near unto death ; the 
disease, however, seemed to be baffled within, and to have fastened 
upon the external organs of sense, and in five weeks it was perceived 
that her sight and hearing were forever destroyed. During seven weeks 
of pain and fever she tasted not a morsel of food ; for five months was 
she obliged to be kept in a darkened room ; it was a year before she 
could walk unsupported, and two years before she could sit up all day. 
She was now four years old, and as her health and strength began to 
be established, she learned to go about the house, and manifested a de- 
sire to be employed ; not by her looks, for she was blind — not by 
words, for she was dumb. She could, it is true, for a time pronounce 
the few words she had before learned ; but not hearing the sound of 
her own voice, she soon lost the command of her articulation — the 
sound answered not to the thought — the will lost command of the 
tongue — and the last articulate word she was ever heard to utter was 
" book !" But she was not only deaf, and dumb, and blind, her isola- 

7 



50 

tion was still more complete — the sense of smell was so blunted as to 
be entirely useless, and only affected by pungent odours ; of course, 
half the pleasure of taste was gone, and she manifested indifference 
about the flavor of food. 

It would seem that in this total darkness — this dreary stillness — this 
isolation from all communication with kindred spirits, the immaterial 
mind must have remained in infantile imbecility, while the body grew in 
stature and strength, or have attained a perception of its loneliness, 
only to pine and die at the discovery. But not so ; every day she be- 
came more active and more cheerful ; and she is now (as far as the 
closest scrutiny can ascertain the state of her mind,) not only unre- 
pining, but contented and happy. The sense of touch alone remains, 
and the sight of this unfortunate girl fills one with admiration, not only 
of the perfectibility of the senses, but of the wonderful power of the 
mind to adapt its operations to any circumstances of its bodily tene- 
ment — to put itself in relation with external things, and to obtain its 
own stimuli and manifest its own emotions through the most imperfect 
media. 

There is the strongest evidence of a thirst for knowledge — of an in- 
ternal, intellectual want which can be gratified only by a new idea. 
Her greatest pleasure is to learn a new stitch — a new way of knitting 
or braiding — a new word — or to discover the application and use of 
any new thing ; and her eagerness to learn is only equalled by the 
quickness of perception which she manifests. 

There is strong hope that, if her life be spared, the patient and per- 
severing efforts of the humane, aided by the ingenuity and councils of 
the wise, will succeed in throwing much light into her dreary prison, 
and be rewarded not only by the satisfaction of imparting happiness, 
but by new views of the operations of mind." 









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